GUWAHATI, MAY 3: The Congress-led Manipur Government headed by Okram Ibobi Singh has decided to provide arms to the inhabitants of two villages — Heirok in Thoubal district and Lilong Chajing in Imphal West district — in order to protect them from militants.

A decision to this effect was taken at a Cabinet meeting at Imphal on Friday evening which also approved of providing training to 500 people from these two villages — 300 from Heirok and 200 from Lilong Chajing — and designate them as special police officers (SPOs) with a fixed salary of Rs 3,000 per month.

The Chief Minister, who has been under pressure from the Centre to act in view of the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, said the 500 men from Heirok and Lilong Chajing would be trained on the lines of what was earlier done in Jammu and Kashmir. The experiment would also be reminiscent of Salwa Judum in Chhattisgarh.

Salwa Judum is a vigilante group formed to take on the Naxals in Chhattisgarh. It has kicked up a controversy with even the Supreme Court voicing reservations.

Any other village seeking protection from militants would also be extended similar facilities, official sources quoting the Cabinet decision said.

Interestingly, it was the villagers of Heirok and Lilong Chajing who first raised the demand for issuing guns to them after armed militants killed three villagers, including two women, at Heirok on March 24 while a group of KCP militants shot down one person at Lilong Chajing on April 23.

The Chief Minister promised that the Government would also absorb these 500 SPOs into the state police on the basis of their performance.

The Government decision also came in the wake of the visit of two officials from the Union Home Ministry to assess the situation in Manipur.

Meanwhile, two jawans of the Assam Rifles were killed and four injured in an ambush by militants belonging to the outlawed United National Liberation Front at Phailenkot in Chandel district on Friday. The two have been identified as riflemen PT Baskar and K Tirkey of the 6 Assam Rifles.

A press note issued by the Assam Rifles PRO said the incident occurred when some jawans of the 6 Assam Rifles were travelling in a water tanker and a QRT van to collect water from a nearby village. The militants, who managed to escape unhurt despite retaliation by the jawans, used RPG and AK-47, the note added.